Internal-combustion engine.



J. A. WILLIAMS. I INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGENB. APPLICATION FILED DEC. 19, 1910.

Patented June 2, 1914.

- v ,jcvlve 7226177 Wifiz ed'u'ed UNITED STATES PATENT OFFECE JOSEPH A. WILLIAMS, 0F CLEVELAND, OHIO,-ASSIG1\TOR TO THE K. W. IGNITION COMPANY, OF CLEVELAND, OHIO, A CORPORATION OF OHIO.

INTERNAL-COMBUSTION ENGINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOSEPH A. WILLIAMs, a citizen of the United States, residing at Cleveland, in the county of Cuyahoga and State of Ohio, have-invented a certain newand useful Improvement in Internal-Combustion Engines, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description. 7 p

This invention relates to internal combustion engines and particularly to two-cycle engines. I

It is a well known fact that a two-cycle engine is an admirable prime mover andin some respects is superior to a four-cycle engine, but has the disadvantage that as compared with a four-cycle engine it has a small range in speed. It is also well known that when the speed of a two-cycle engine is decreased by closing down the throttle valveor by throttling down the engine, it is necessary in order that an explosive charge may be drawn into the cylinder that the needle valve be opened and that the mixture be made very rich by an excessive flow of gasolene, and even though the mixture is made as rich as possible, the engine is very unreliable and uncertain in its action, the explosions or ignitions taking place with more or less irregularity and the engine often back-fires. Furthermore, after the engine has operated for a period at a low speed in the unsatisfactory manner above stated, and after the speed has been increased by opening the throttle valve, the operation of the engine is still unsatisfactory for a considerable time due to the fact that more or less gasolene was condensed in the crank case and ports and passageways leading to the cylinder, with the result that the explosions or hitting is not regular, until this condensed gasolene has been carried away.

The present invention has for its main object to provide means whereby a twocycle engine can be made more flexible in its speed range and can be made nearly as eflicient at low speed as a, four-cycle engine.

I accomplish the above object. by providing means whereby when the engine is throttled, it is caused to hit regularly but at a less number of times in a given number of compression strokes than normally or when it, is operating at a higher speed and with the throttle valve open. In this case when the engine is throttled down, I provide means for causing each cylinder to hit or -to have a charge ignited therein at each alternate compression stroke instead of at each compression stroke, andl thereby con vert the engine from a two-cycle to a lour-' cycle engine as far as the ignition or rate of ignitions is concerned.

The above is accomplished in the embodiment of my invention here shown by causing the ignition system to be rendered inoperative or inactive at certain regularly occurring compression strokes when the engine is throttled', although an igniting arc is produced in the cylinder at each compression stroke when the engine is operating at 'normal or above a. predetermined speed.

Preferably, the ignition system is controlled automatically by the operation of the throttle lever, which in an'automobile, for instance, for which my invention is particularly. adapted, is carried by the steering wheel.

My invention may be further briefly summarized as consisting in certain novel combinations and arrangements of parts which will be described in the specification and set forth in the appended claims.

For a better understanding of my invention, reference is had to the accompanying drawing which is a diagrammatic representation of a two-cycle engine and one embodiment of my invention which is applied thereto.

teferring now to'the drawing, 10 represents a two-cycle engine which for convenience of description and illustration is shown as provided with three cylinders A, B and 0, although it is to be understood that my invention may be employed with or applied to a two-cycle engine having any number.

of cylinders. The cylinders are provided respectively with pistons 11 which are connected in the usual manner to the cranks of a crank shaft 12.

I employ in connection with the engine an ignition system which normally produces" in each cylinder at each compression stroke an igniting are or spark, the ignition system in thls case including a high tension magneto having a low tension winding 13 and a high tension winding 14, the former Patented June 2, 1914.

having in its circuit a make-and-brea'k de vice or circuit breaker 15 which may be of any construction, and the high tension winding being connected by a conductor 16'to the movable arm 17* of a distributer 17 having in this case threestationary contacts or segments 17 which are connected by conductors 18 to spark lugslQ, one provided for each cylinder. f course both the circuit breaker cam and distributor arm are each driven or operated by the engine at a fixed speed relative to the engine, or at a constant speed ratio, whether ignition takes place in a cylinder at each compression stroke, or is restricted to one of a number of compression strokes in a manner -'hereinafter explained. The ignition system also includes a grounding-switch 20 in the circuit of the primary or low tension winding 14:, this switch 20'being for the purpose ofmanually rendering inoperative or throwing out of operation the ignition system by short-circuiting the primary, The ignition system so far described is old and well known, and I claim no novelty therein as far as the ignition system alone is con cerned.

It will be understood that when the circuit breaker 15, distributor 17 and magneto armature are operated at the proper or usual rates of speed for a two-cycle engine, an igniting arc will be produced in each cylinder at each compression'stroke of the piston therein, the distributor being driven at full speed or at crank-shaft speed. v

While I am aware that my invention in its broad aspect may -be carried out by other specific forms of apparatus than the one here shown, I shall describe my invention only ,in its preferred'embodiment.

To render the ignition system inactive during certain compression strokes when the engine is throttled down for the reasons reviously stated, I employ a device 21 W ich is somewhat similar to the distributer 17, but is, in fact, a grounding switch, including a rotating arm 21 which will be drivem by the engine and three spaced cont-acts or segments 21, and this switch arm 21', for a purpose to be explained, is operated at onehalf the speed of the arm 17 of the distributer or at one-half crank-shaft speed;

whereas the distributor arm. is operated at full or crank-shaft speed. The switch arm 21" is grounded, the arm being grounded by a conductor 22, as'shown in the drawing, and the three contacts or segments 21 are all connected to a common conductor 23. This conductor 23 is adapted to be connected to the low tension or primary winding 13 or the magneto by a conductor 24, and by a switch 25 including two insulated contacts and 25", and a contact 25 which. is adapted to bridge the contacts 25 and 25 and iscarried by the throttle lever 26, which circuited independently is in normal position and until the engine has been throttled down a predetermined amount by moving the throttle lever 26, the ignition system is disconnected from the switch 21, but when the engine is throttled down to an extent such that the bridging contact .25?

of the switch 25 bridges the contacts. 25 and 25 the primary or low tension winding 13 is grounded at'both terminals and short of fthe circuit breaker 15, when the switch arm-21 is in engagement with any one of the segments 21", but when the switch arm is between two segments, then the switch 21 does not short circuit the winding.v Consequently, if the switch 25 is closed when the switch arm and distributor arm are in the positions shown or when they each engage a contact, then there will be no'arc formed at the spark plug which is connected to the segment engaged by the distributer arm or in this case at the spark plug in cylinder A.

-But as the switch arm 21* is rotated at one half the speed of the distributer arm, when the latter reaches the next segment, or

winding being in this particular instance. not grounded by the switch 21. When the distributer arm reaches the third segment or. the segment connected to the plug in. cylinder G, the switch arm 21 will again be on a segment, and consequently in cylinder C, at this time no arc will be formed and no ignition of the explosive mixture will take place. 'When the distributer arm again reaches the contact connected to the plug .in cylinder A, the switch arm 21 will now be between two segments, and at this compression stroke of the piston in cylinder A,

an arc will be formed, and ignition will take place in the usual-manner, whereas at the previous compression stroke in this cyl In a slm lar,

indcr no ignition took place. I manner at the next compression stroke of the plston 1n cylinder B, which had previ- :ously hit, there will be no arc and no ignition, and at the next compression stroke of I the piston in cylinder C, which had previously missed, there Wlll be an arc and. ignitron. Therefore the engine acts as regards the number of ignitions inia series of strokes exactly as a four-cycle engine, each cylinder hitting at each alternate compression stroke of the piston in that cylinder, and missing on the other compressionstrokes. r course, when the switch 25 1s opened by moving the as reaches the segment connected to the spark iio throttle lever 26 so as to open the throttle, the engine is automatically reconverted to a two-cycle engine, and the switch 21 becomes inoperative, although the arm 21 is continuously rotated by the engine.

By converting the engine from a two-cycle to a four-cycle engine, it will not be necescharge which had been previously admitted to the cylinder and compressed" ,du'ring the inactive compression stroke, is los nevertheless enough of the charge remains in the cylinder to form with the next charge admitted, a charge which is much more efi'ective and more reliable than the charge in a ,c-ylinder of an ordinary two-cycle engine .when throttled down to obtain a sloW speed.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is:

1. In combination with a two-cycle internal combustion engine, an ignition system for causing ignition in a cylinder of the engine at each compression stroke comprising a member adapted to be driven by the engine at a constant speed ratio, and means for restricting the ignition to one of a number of compression strokes without altering the speed ratio. of said member and of the en gine.

nal combustion engine, an ignition system for causing ignition in a cylinder normally at each compression stroke comprising a member adapted to be driven by the engine at a constant speed ratio, and means for preventing ignition in the cylinder at each alternate compression strokewithout altering the speed ratio of said member and of the engine.

3. A two-cycle internal combustion engine having means for causing an igniting arc in a cylinder at each compression stroke of the piston, or at each alternate compression 2. In combination with a two-cycle interstroke, said means comprising. an ignition system and a switch for rendering the system inoperative at each alternate compres sion stroke.

4. A two-cycle internal combustion engine having ignition apparatus for causing ignition in a cylinder normally at each com-. pression stroke of the piston, or at each alternate compression stroke when the engine is throttled a predetermined amount.

5. A two-cycle internal combustion engine having ignition apparatus for causing an igniting arc in a cylinder at each compres-' sion stroke of the piston when the engine is operating at normal speed, or at each alter nate compression stroke when the speed is decreased by throttling the engine. 6. A two-cycle internal combustion-engine having an ignition system for causing ignition in a cylinder at each compression stroke of the piston, andcmeansfor changing the number of ignitions in a series of compression strokes as the engine is throttled.

'7. In combination with a two-cycle engine, an ignition system for normally causing an igniting arc in a cylinderat each compression stroke ofa piston, and means for preventing the formation of'an igniting arc at alternate compression strokes.

8. In combination with a two-cycle engine, an ignition system for normally caus ing an igniting arc in a cylinder at each compression stroke, and means for preventing the formation of an'arc at alternate compressio-n strokes when the engine is throttled, comprising a switch which periodically renders the ignition system inactive.

9.In combination with a two-cycle engine, an ignition system for normally causing an igniting arc in a cylinder at each compression stroke, and means for preventing the formation of an are at each alternate -1 compression stroke' when the engine is throttled comprising a rotating grounding switch connected to the ignition'system and adapted to periodically render the system inoperative.

In testimony whereof, I hereunto aifix my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

JOSEPHVA. WILLIAMS. a 5;]

Witnesses: 4

H. R. SULLIVAN, A. F. 'KWIS.

copies ot this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. 0. 

